


Worth It

by alleinimmer



Series: How Did We Get Here? [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Endgame never happened, Fluff and Angst, Infinity War never happened, Paparazzi, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, brief mention of blood/injury, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-15 00:01:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20609543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alleinimmer/pseuds/alleinimmer
Summary: All Tony wanted was to take Peter out for lunch. But apparently, that's too much to ask.





	Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> Major character development ahead!
> 
> Takes place after "What Would It Take?"
> 
> Okay, I really kind of rushed this because I have stuff going on this weekend and wanted it up before then- hopefully it's not too bad

“I really don’t know why you’re complaining.” Happy drawled from across the room, where he sat reviewing security reports on his StarkPad. “Personally, these past few days have been some of the best I’ve had in years.” 

“Because the kid got shot, Happy!” Tony all but shouted at him, fingers flying over the hologram projection of Peter’s suit. “And I haven’t heard a single goddamn thing from him in a week! A week! From the kid who normally can’t shut up to save his life!”

“Like I said. Bliss.”

“Happy!”

“I’m just saying, enjoy it while it lasts.” Happy shrugged, looking thoroughly unconcerned with the whole thing. “‘Cause you know it won’t last long.”

“Except I can’t enjoy it because I DON’T know that!” Tony snapped, shooting him a glare as he continued to work. 

“Tony. He’s fine. Cho said so herself when she released him.” Happy reminded him. “The kid’s probably just embarrassed about what happened. You’re freaking out over nothing.”

Tony sighed heavily as he rubbed his eyes, trying to ease the headache that was slowly building behind them. He knew Happy was probably right and that he was being ridiculous. He knew Cho never would have released Peter unless she was a hundred percent sure he was okay. And he knew Peter was okay - he’d read her notes, watched her palpate and maneuver Peter’s miraculously healed shoulder with ease. Hell, he had even yelled at the kid when he tried to do a backflip off the exam table. He had been perfectly fine. More than fine, even.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about the moment that singular gunshot rang out over his com. Of Peter laying limply in his arms as he all but tossed his onto Cho’s waiting gurney. Of cleaning Peter’s blood off his suit. Couldn’t stop thinking about the first day that Peter hovered in and out of consciousness, whimpering as his body burned through Cap’s morphine with shocking efficiency. The sound of Peter wailing that awful night...

Tony shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside and instead forcing himself to focus on Peter’s suit again. Cho had made it very clear she didn’t want Peter going out as Spider-Man for at least another week after she released him, and though Peter had promised he wouldn’t, Tony refused to take any chances - if there was one thing he had learned in the past few months about Peter, it was that the kid sucked at following directions. 

Which was precisely why he had secretly encrypted a series of backdoors into Karen’s coding several months ago, after Peter figured out how to disable the ‘Tattletale Protocol’. It had been a bitch to program, but it allowed him remote access to the kid’s suit, including the means to disable it completely...something he had implemented immediately after Cho demanded that Peter take another week to recover before patrolling again. Which, apparently, was NOT an overreaction, as Rhodey and Happy kept telling him, considering he got an alert from FRIDAY last night that Peter had tried (and failed) to activate his suit. And while it was tempting to leave the damn thing off for another week, just to make sure Peter really was okay, he knew it was better to have it up and running again before the kid got suspicious and started poking around Karen’s coding again. Or worse, start running around in those god awful, stupid pajama set of his. 

“Alright. The suit’s back up.” He called to Happy a short while later, ignoring his grumbles as he began closing down the lab. “Come on, Hogan, let’s go.”

“You know, you could call the kid like a normal person.” Happy told him. “I don’t see why we have to drive all the way to Queens just to make sure he’s okay-”

Happy complained the entire way there. About everything - traffic, construction, bridges, pedestrians, bikers, joggers, tourists, tour busses, pigeons, La Guardia. About pretty much anything and everything that posed even the slightest inconvenience for them. So much so that by the time they finally reached Peter’s apartment and Tony managed to convince Happy to drop him off, he was ready to kill him, and was seriously beginning to wonder if it was worth the trouble of coming all the way here for potentially nothing. 

The look of absolute shock that flashes across Peter's face when he opens the door makes it absolutely worth it. "Mr. Stark?!”

"Hiya, Bullseye." Tony said cheerfully, sidestepping an incredulous Peter and sauntering into the Parkers' apartment like he owned the place. "Collected any more bullet holes since I saw you last?"

"Um, no." Peter said distractedly, quickly shutting the door and hurrying after him. "Mr. Stark, what are you doing here? I mean - not that I'm not happy you're here, it's just that Queens is so far away from downtown-"

"I was in the neighborhood." Tony cut him off casually, drifting over to the bookshelf. A number of little trinkets lay scattered over the shelves - picture frames, little figurines, odds and ends. Tony picked one up, inspecting it. "Haven't heard from you in a couple days. Which is extremely not like you. I was just stopping by to make sure you weren't dead."

"Oh, yeah, I'm great!" Peter assured him quickly, flashing him a way-too-wide smile. "100 percent! Actually, I was thinking about patrolling tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?" Tony asked him, still pretending to be more focused on the little statuete than Peter. "Everything must be good then."

"Totally! No issues! Well, uh, actually," Peter said, trailing off hesitatingly, and Tony felt his heart sink. "Um, the thing is, see, I’M fine, but I uh...I think there might be something wrong with my suit. Do you think maybe you could take a look at it for me?"

"You broke your suit AGAIN, Parker?" 

"No! No, I swear, I don't know what's wrong with it! It's like it won't activate, or something!"

"You know, kid, I'm not always gonna be around to fix your broken toys." Tony said, watching as Peter went barreling into his room, no doubt to grab his suit. "You need to be more careful with your stuff."

"I am careful!" Peter called indignantly from the other room.

"Yeah, all the knife and bullet holes I've had to repair really speak volumes of that." Tony said mildly, watching as Peter came charging back into the room, Spider-Man suit in tow. 

"Alright, so what's wrong with it? Tony asked, feigning ignorance.

"It won't activate! I push the spider and nothing happens!"

"Any particular reason you were pushing the spider in the first place, Peter?" Tony asked, taking the suit from him and draping it over the kitchen table. "Because I distinctly remember Cho said you weren't allowed to patrol for at least another week after she discharged you."

"Uh, I was just...testing it. You know. Just making sure everything was in working order before I took it out. Trying to be responsible."

"Uh huh." Tony said dryly before gently pressing the spider emblem. Immediately, the suit shrank beneath his hands. He quirked an eyebrow at Peter, who stared, open-mouthed and dumbfounded. "Looks like it's working just fine to me, Pete."

"I swear it wasn't doing that yesterday."

"Probably for the best." Tony sniffed, pressing the chestpiece again and watching as it loosened. "Considering that yesterday you wouldn't have been cleared to take it out anyway."

"I wasn't going to go out, I swear!" 

"Sure you weren't. Hey, kid, you hungry?"

"I-what?"

"I'm starving." Tony told him, moving back towards the door, taking Peter's coat off the rack and tossing it at him. "Know any good places we could go?”

"Well, um, Mr. Stark," Peter began, struggling to get his jacket on as he followed Tony out the door. "See the thing is, uh, I don't know if there's anything around here you'd um. Well. Like." He said lamely, blushing furiously when Tony raised a single eyebrow at him. "It's just...there's really nothing fancy around here."

"I’m not here for fancy, kid. I’m here for the authentic Queens experience. Whatever the hell that is." Tony said him, watching Peter as he fumbled with the lock and key. "Hey, you know what? Just for shits and giggles, you’re gonna pick where we go.” 

Peter stilled. "You want me to decide?"

"When in Rome, do what the Romans do. Come on, kid, I trust you. Take me somewhere you like."

"Um...okay then." Peter said hesitatingly. "Mr. Stark, are you sure you don't want-"

“Kid, I am this close…”

\--------------

"Hey, Peter! Hey, how's it goin,' man? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Yeah, I've been super busy - lots of exams. You know how it is."

"Ah, they work you kids too hard at that school of yours. All that work? All that pressure? It ain't right." 

"It's not so bad," Peter assured him, a stocky, twenty-something -year-old Hispanic man who was grinning ear-to-ear as he assembled sandwiches behind the counter. "I still get to have fun every now and then."

The guy snorted. "'Every now and then'. God knows I don't miss those days. Trust me, man, life gets so much better after high school."

"I believe it."

"Too bad that aunt of yours would kill you if you ever decided to drop out, eh?"

"You have no idea." Peter muttered darkly, and the guy roared with laughter at his miserable expression. 

"Ah, she's a firecracker, that one! Hey, I know what'll cheer you up, little dude - you want your usual? With extra pickles?"

"And smoosh it down, please!" Peter called back, grinning as he mimed squishing something between his hands. 

"You got it! And how about you, jefe?" The boy said, suddenly turning to Tony and catching him completely off guard. "What can I get you?"

"Uh." Tony had been so focused on Peter, watching for any sign that he was still hurt, that he hadn’t even noticed the sandwich board. "I'll have what he's having. Hold the pickles and the smooshing, thanks."

"Sure thing, man." 

Tony turned to look at Peter, who was rocking back and forth on his heels, and refusing to look at him. "You come here often?"

"Yeah, best sandwiches in Queens." Peter told him, still staring resolutely at the specials board. "I know it doesn't look like much, and I know you've probably had way better, but-"

"Pete, you're talking to someone who literally starved for several months in a cave." Tony snapped, rolling his eyes. "Trust me, this is more than fine."

Which probably wasn't the best thing to say, considering the alarmed look Peter shot him. Tony resisted the urge to sigh. He felt like he was failing miserably at this - what the hell where you supposed to talk about with a fifteen-year-old? God, it was so much easier to tease and brush the kid aside. This - this was infinitely harder. It shouldn't be this hard for him to make small talk with Peter. To have a legitimate conversation with him every now and then. But for whatever godforsaken reason, it was. Tony wracked his brains, trying to think of something, anything, to break the silence that had settled over them. "So...you ever hang out here with all your friends?"

"Not really." Peter told him. "Ned's not as much of a fan as I am."

"Well, what about your other friends?"

A brief pause. "I don't...um...I don't really have any other friends, Mr. Stark."

Jesus Christ. And just what the hell was he supposed to say to that? He settled for a shrug.

"Yeah, well. Neither do I, squirt." He said airily. The last thing he wanted was for Peter to think it wasn't normal that he didn't have more friends, or for Tony to think any less of him because he didn’t. "Found that out the hard way. Trust me on this one, kid: quality over quantity."

"Yeah, speaking of 'quality', Mr. Stark," Peter began, trying and failing, to subtly change the subject. "We seriously don't have to eat here, if you don't want to-" 

"Come on, kid, humor me." Tony said, rolling his eyes heaven-ward. "I'm curious about this place - it's gotta be your favorite for a reason."

Peter didn't answer him for a moment. "It was my uncle’s favorite."

"Oh yeah?" Peter didn't talk about his uncle very much. Hardly ever, in fact. 

"Yeah. He always got off early on Fridays - I think he had some kind of deal worked out with his chief. Anyway, his shift ended around the same time school let out, so he'd picked me up and we'd walk home together. Stop here on the way. Sometimes, we'd meet up with a buddy of his - Davis - but this was usually our thing."

"You ever see your uncle's buddy anymore?"

"Not really." Peter shrugged. "He lives over in Brooklyn."

"How'd your uncle know him?"

"They met while they were working a case. I don't really remember what happened, but somehow it involved both their precincts and they worked together for a bit. After it was over they'd trade information to help each other out. Go out for a beer here and there. They took me to a baseball game, once."

"I didn't know you liked baseball." Tony said quietly, watching him closely. 

"I don't." Peter told him, sounding ashamed. "But Ben did. He played in high school. And I was...well, me. I just pretended to like it so he wouldn't be embarrassed of me."

"Was he embarrassed of you?"

"I don't think so." Peter said hesitatingly. "Once he figured how much I hated it, he said he never wanted me to be something I wasn't. We never went to another game after that. Instead, he started bringing me home science kits and bug collecting stuff. Took me to all kinds of different museums. He even got me tickets to a Stark Expo, once."

"Really?" Tony asked him, surprised. "Which one?"

"I don't remember." Peter told him, avoiding his gaze, and Tony knew he was lying, for whatever reason, but he didn't push him.

"Sounds like he was good to you." Tony said, thinking back to his own, lonely childhood. Of his father trying to hammer and shape him into something he most definitely wasn't, and envying how easily Peter's uncle had accepted him for who he was.

"He was the best." Peter said, voice barely above a whisper. He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "We, um...we kind of stopped coming here, after a while."

"Why?"

"His hours changed. Crime started going up. Not enough people wanted to be cops." Peter said. He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "And, um, I started getting older. I, uh, I was kind of an asshole to him. Didn't want to be seen with him in public." Peter exhaled slowly, looking down at his shoes. "Funny how that goes - now I'd give anything just for five minutes with him."

Thankfully, the guy behind the counter saved Tony from coming up with something to say to that, tossing a paper bag onto the counter. "Alright, guys, here you go! That'll be ten dollars! We paying together or separate?" 

"Together." Tony said firmly, slapping his card down on the counter, despite Peter's protests. Throwing money at a problem to make it go away...now that, he could handle. 

"Alright, man, cool." The guy said, leaning forward to take Tony's card, and freezing when he caught sight of the name on it. "Tony Stark!?" He squawked, looking up at Tony with wide eyes. "Are you shitting me?"

"You wanna maybe keep it down there, boss?" Tony hissed back, glaring at him. "We're trying to be covert here." 

"Well, then, dude, you gotta get outta here!”

"What?" Tony snapped, taken aback. "Why?"

"Because, man, you're all over the news right now!"

"What?"

"Yeah, I thought it was a joke! Here, look!" The boy said, shoving his phone in Tony's face. "'Tony Stark Spotted in Queens'..."Secret Avengers' Mission in Queens'...'Shawarma's Out, Sandwiches In'...aw, shit, dude, they even mention Delmar's by name!" 

"Fuck!" Tony swore, glancing over at Peter, who looked frustratingly not-freaked out by the whole thing, before turning back to the guy behind the counter. "Hey, you got a back door we can use?"

"Yeah, sure thing, man, here!" The man said, hurrying around to let them behind the counter. Tony scrambled after him, quickly tapping his watch as he did. 

"Hey, boss."

"Happy!" Tony barked, dragging Peter with him through a door marked 'Employees Only'. "You still in Queens?" 

"Oh yeah. Hey, remember what I said about what a bad idea this whole thing was? Well, on a completely unrelated note, did you know you're trending on Twitter right now?"

"Yeah, yeah, what else is new?" Tony snapped. "Listen, I need you to pick us up at this place called Delmar's-"

"Yeah, way ahead of you, boss. I'm out front. So is half of New York, by the way."

"Awesome. See if you can find a way around back. And hurry."

The Hispanic guy - 'Marco' Tony was just able to catch from his nametag - had come to a rather sudden and unexpected stop before a chipped, white door. "This is it, man." He said, gesturing at it. "Takes you right out to a side street that's connected to the main drag. Your guy should be able to pick you up, no problem."

"Awesome. Here-" Tony quickly shoved a hundred dollar bill at him. "No, keep it. Hard to find decent service these days. Alright, kid, get ready to run."

"But, Mr. Stark, I don’t understand-" 

"Pete, not now!" Tony snapped, snatching his wrist and pulling him forward. "Trust me, the faster we get to Happy, the better. Just stick close and keep your head down. Ready?"

"No, wait-"

"Yeah, that was really more of a rhetorical question, kid." Tony grunted, tugging Peter close before reaching out shoving the door open - 

\- Only to be blinded by dozens of flashing cameras. 

"Tony!"

"Tony!"

“Hey, Tony, how’s your day going?”

"What brings you to Queens?"

"Tony, look here!"

"Tony!"

Tony growled, ducking his head down and pushing through the throng of people that had gathered around the backdoor, hand tightening around Peter's wrist as he gradually inched his way forward.

"Tony, who's this?!"

"Stark, is this your kid?!"

"Hey, kid! Kid! Kid, what's your name?"

"Does your fiance know about this, Mr. Stark?"

Tony spared Peter a quick glance, and bit back a curse when he found Peter looking around the vast crowd of people that were pressing in on them, eyes wide as they bounced from flashing camera to flashing camera, and a look of wild panic written very plainly on his face - exactly the kind of look that was guaranteed to make the front page of every gossip magazine in New York. Awesome. He was very aware of how this looked - he could see the headlines now (“Tony Stark's Secret Love Child!", “Tony Stark’s Secret Lover!”), just as easily as he could see the shitshow that was sure to follow. Pepper was going to kill him. Fury was going to kill him. Fuck, MAY was going to kill him! And Peter...goddammit, he was about to screw up Peter's life all over again!

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH! BACK UP! BACK THE FUCK UP! RIGHT NOW! LET'S GO, YOU FUCKING PARASITES - MOVE!" 

Happy. Tony whirled around, relief washing over him to see Happy's massive frame shoving people aside, face beet red and terrifyingly furious, the car parked and waiting not far behind him.

"You've never looked more gorgeous, Hap!" Tony called out over the din.

“GET IN THE GODDAM CAR!" Happy roared, glowering at him. "NOW!"

"I'm working on it!" Tony snapped back, quickly yanking Peter forward and throwing his arm around his shoulders. "Come on, kid, move!"

Which, upon realizing Tony was leaving, sent the paparazzi into a frenzy. The crowd surged forward as they redoubled their efforts to catch as many photos of him and Peter as they could. As the mass of strangers came crashing into them, shouting at them, screaming at them, bodies pressing in on them, boxing them in, lights flashing every way Tony looked, he felt the slightest prickle of fear amidst his frustration. Tony had been dealing with the paparazzi for years, and while he doubted he and Peter were in any kind of real danger, they were rarely this aggressive. It was starting to make him nervous.

It felt like it took hours to finally reach Happy, who ushered them urgently towards the car. It was just as Happy’s fingers were wrapping around the door handle that Peter was suddenly wrenched away from him.

Tony felt his blood run cold, jerking around wildly, hands reaching blindly, instinctively, for the kid who was no longer pressed against his side.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter called, voice high-pitched and scared, reaching for Tony as the photographers jostled him, pulling him away from the safety of the car. Tony felt his ice-cold blood boil instantly at the sight - the sight of Peter struggling, trying to pry himself away from the hands that gripped his jacket, hands that were snatching and clawing and holding him tighter, shoving their cameras in his face, shouting at him. Of Peter’s face screwing up as he twisted and struggled to get away from the downright psychedelic frequency and intensity of the flashing lights. “Mr. Stark!”

“STOP! GET OFF OF HIM!” Tony roared, closing the distance between him and Peter in a single stride, grabbing desperately for him, Happy not too far behind and fairly spitting with rage. “YOU’RE HURTING HIM!”

The words worked like a charm and only all too well. Immediately, the people that had been pulling Peter away, holding him in place, forcing his head around as their cameras went off, released him. Peter stumbled at the sudden change, and before Tony could catch him, he had lost his balance, and fell. It only earned him another round of dizzying camera flashes. 

“KID!” Tony quickly reached down and hauled Peter to his feet, trying to ignore the dash of scarlet on the kid’s palms. Instead, he drew him as close as he possibly could, practically wrapping himself around Peter as Happy threw himself between Tony and the crowd. “Assaulting a minor - un-fucking-believable!”

“Not our fault! He tripped!”

As much as Tony would have loved to have argued otherwise, he knew there was no point with these people - their entire livelihood was built on harassment, after all. Instead, he merely shoved Peter in the waiting car, Happy still shielding them from view, before climbing in after him. It was just before he closed the door that he shouted, “I hope you fuckers know what you’re in for!”

“Stop talking to them!” Happy snapped from the front seat, slamming his car door shut and revving the engine forcefully. 

\---------------

Peter sat huddled uncomfortably close to Tony, who kept an arm wrapped tight around his shoulders and a hand cupped against his face, shielding it from view, even long after Happy managed to lose the paparazzi. He knew it was pointless now, but it gave him something to do, the illusion that he was doing something to protect the kid. Though it didn’t do a damn thing to ease the guilt bubbling inside him, which all but boiled over when he finally called Pepper to tell her what had happened, and then May, who had insisted he bring Peter straight home. God, he’d fucked up. Fucked up bad. And while he knew Pepper would make sure he got every single one of those photos before they could be sold, it was beside the point - the point was, it never should have happened in the first place. 

No one spoke, save for the occasional muttered curse from Happy as he maneuvered through early evening traffic. Tony watched as the world rolled by, feeling like he was coming down from a bad high as the adrenaline buzzing through his veins slowly fizzled out, leaving him feeling raw and empty, adrift and untethered. It was Happy who finally brought him back down to earth when they reached Peter’s apartment.

“Boss.” He grunted. “We can’t stay here. Someone might recognize the car. Besides, we need to do damage control.”

“...Right.” Tony muttered. “Come on, kid. I’ll walk you up.”

“You don’t have to-”

“No.” Tony snarled, detangling himself from Peter and shoving the car door open. Peter scrambled after him, and Tony ignored the nervous sideways glances the kid kept shooting him, the way he shifted nervously beside him, as Tony leaned back down to talk to Happy. 

“Give us a minute.” Tony told him, and Happy, bless him, merely nodded in response. “Let’s go, Squirt.”

For the life of him, Tony couldn’t remember the walk back up to Peter’s apartment. One minute he was speaking with Happy on the street, and the next he was in the Parkers’ embarrassingly small kitchen, well aware that Peter was still watching him and doing everything he could to avoid looking at him. Instead, he drifted over to the little kitchen window that overlooked the neighboring alley. Crumbling brick and grimy windows. Graffiti everywhere- a giant rainbow ‘FUCK!’, and a little further on, ‘Sell drugs, make money, eat pussy’ was written over a seven pointed leaf and a pair of spread legs. And other far worse things. Things that had no business being there. Things just like Tony. 

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked hesitantly. "Are you...are you mad?"

Tony inhaled deeply, knuckles whitening as he gripped the Parkers’ kitchen countertops. For a moment he couldn’t answer, his thoughts tumbling in a sickening, kaleidoscopic whirl. The image of Peter being torn away from him, the terrified look on his kid’s face, Peter’s bloody, scraped palms, reaching for him. Again and again and again they played, caught on a loop like a bad tape. He felt sick. That had happened because of him. And yet, despite what had happened, despite everything that had happened, Peter had still trusted Tony to save him. Was still counting on him to explain what had happened and why. It was enough to make Tony want to ram his head into the wall. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter asked again, voice soft and uncertain. “I’m so sor-”

“Stop.” Tony spat. His arms were shaking from how hard he was holding the countertop edge. “Don’t apologize. That wasn’t your fault.”

“But you’re mad-”

“Not at you.” Tony said shortly, sparing him a quick glance. “At me.”

Peter’s brow furrowed as he cocked his head, evidently puzzled. “Why?”

It was so unexpected, so innocent and childlike that Tony couldn’t help but snort, though he sobered quickly as the merry-go-round of anxiety-inducing memories went past again. 

“Because, kid, what happened today shouldn’t have happened at all. And that’s on me, alright? Not you. You didn’t do anything wrong. And I promise I’m going to do everything I can to make sure those photos aren’t leaked. You don’t have to worry about a thing. Okay?”

“Why?” Peter asked him again. “Why’s it so bad if people see them?”

Tony leaned his forehead against the kitchen cabinet, releasing an irritated huff as he did. He knew that this was something Peter didn’t understand and that he shouldn’t expect him to. But the thought of explaining to Peter just why exactly it was so bad if those pictures made it to print, and the ripples upon ripples of consequences if they did, was enough to make his temples throb. How was he supposed to explain this to a kid? Make him understand just how serious the situation was without scaring him? He could barely make small talk him! He was, as he so often was with Peter, way out of his league on this one.

Peter, for his part, seemed to interpret Tony’s silence differently. “Mr. Stark...are you ashamed of me?”

“...What?” Tony snapped, still unable to look at him. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would you even ask me that?” 

Peter didn’t answer, and after a moment of silence passed between them, Tony heaved a sigh and forced himself to turn around. “Pete…” He began, only to trail off at the sight of the kid, standing with his head bowed and shoulders shaking. “Peter?” He tried again, gently this time. 

Peter shook his head. “Are you?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper. “I-I get it, if you are. It’s not like I’m-” He paused, as though trying to collect himself, before taking a few deep breaths and plowing on, completely oblivious to Tony’s growing horror. “I know I’m not what you want me to be, but I want you to know I’m trying really hard to be that person, Sir. It’s just I- I can’t-I’m really sorry, Mr. Stark.” Peter said at long last, finally raising his head to look at Tony. His voice was shaking, and his lip was wobbling dangerously, but he held firm, gaze even and direct. “I promise, I’m gonna make you proud someday. I’m just sorry I can’t be what you need me to be right now. But I’m trying. I swear I’m trying-”

“Alright, stop. I’ve heard enough.” Tony said, holding his hand up and ignoring the desperate, pleading look Peter was giving him. It was time he made this right, personal discomfort be damned.“Peter. I need you to listen to me, okay? ‘Cause I’m only gonna say this one time.” 

He waited for Peter to nod before he continued, forcing himself to choose his words carefully and forcing himself to ignore the the look on Peter’s face, as though he were about to burst into tears at any second. 

“I’m not ashamed of you.” He said firmly. “It’s not that I don’t want to be seen with you, alright? I don’t want those pictures getting out because people could use them to figure out your name, where you go to school, where you live...If people knew who you were, if they knew you were connected to me, they’d...they could hurt you, Peter. And that’s the last thing I want.” He took a few steps forward, hand settling heavily on Peter’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Peter. Do you hear me? I’m proud. You don’t have to prove anything to me, kid, ‘cause I already know. And I’m...I’m so glad that I get to have you as a part of my life. I need you to know that, alright?”

“Don’t. EVER. Change.” Tony said slowly and firmly, giving his shoulder a little shake as he did, meeting Peter’s stunned gaze. “I mean it. Who you are...what you do...I think I you’re something else, kid. I think you’re...I think you’re really great, Peter. And I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, alright? I don’t...I can’t lose you, kid. You’re too important. To me.” 

Peter didn’t answer, and Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the look of blatant disbelief on Peter’s face. Jesus, he was baring his soul to the kid. Was it really so hard to believe that he actually gave a damn about him? “Come here.”

“What-”

“Just, come here,” Tony said impatiently, pulling him close, arms wrapping around him tight. Peter went completely still for the briefest of moments, and then, hesitatingly, hugged Tony back.

It took everything Tony had not to stiffen at his touch. He had always hated emotional bullshit, and this really wasn’t any better. But he could suck it up for Peter’s sake, if this was what he needed. 

“...Don’t think this means I’ve forgotten that you still owe me the best sandwich in Queens, kid.” Tony said gruffly after a few damn near unbearable seconds had passed. “You’re not getting off that easy.”

The sound of Peter chuckling against his shoulder definitely made the whole thing worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> A couple things I want to mention: 
> 
> 1\. As always, thanks so much to everyone who continues to read my stories - each and every one of you really makes my day!
> 
> 2\. So, I try really hard to stay as much in character as possible, which I don't really feel like I do in this one. The point of this story was that it was supposed to be a major turning point in Tony and Peter's relationship. Up until now, Tony has only ever told Peter how much he cares about him when he was drunk, Peter was drugged, or when he thought Peter was asleep, but after everything that's happened, Tony has basically reached his limit when it comes to worrying about Peter. So while I still intend to keep Tony sarcastic and aloof in future works, he is going to start being more openly affectionate with Peter - sorry if that bothers you.
> 
> 3\. That being said - I am a shit writer and have been writing these based on whatever inspiration strikes me at the time. I do have an outline for what I plan on doing with this series, but I've been jumping around in terms of the order of things. I have ONE more story that will be going backwards in time and the rest should move forward chronologically . For anyone having a hard time keeping up with the order of things, the technical order of everything is: 
> 
> 1\. Thicker Than Water  
2\. Chapters 1, 2, 3 of Bits of Happiness  
3\. Forgive But Don't Forget  
4\. Chapters 4, 5, 6 of Bits of Happiness  
5\. Hit and Miss  
6\. What Would It Take?  
7\. Worth It.
> 
> Also, did anyone catch my reference to Miles Morales ? : )


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